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NGO CSW/NY NEWSLETTER

February - April 2013

NGO CSW/NY
March 2013

News & Updates

On Sunday, 3 March 2013,  the NGO CSW Forum 57 Consultation Day was held at the Armenian Convention Center Ballroom in New York City.  This year's program highlights included remarks by H.E. Michelle Bachelet, UN-Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women.  Our keynote speaker was Bineta Diop, Founder and Executive Director of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) who was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2011.  Read her remarks here.

















 



 

 

 


 

Consultation Day is the kick-off event for our two-week CSW 57, and we were delighted to have Girl Be Heard perform their award winning show Trafficked for our opening act. The event's welcome speech was delivered by the NGO CSW/NY Chair, Soon-Young Yoon. We had an exciting line up that included a training in Communications & Social Media facilitated by PCI-Media Impact Executive Director Sean Southey. View Photo Gallery!

 





































The NGO CSW Forum Reception took place at the beautiful Permanent Mission to Kazakhstan on March 5th of this year. Mrs. Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Laureate, and Bineta Diop both received the 2013 Women of Distinction Awards! Read Soon-Young Yoon's, NGO CSW/NY Chair, remarks, and view reception's photo gallery here!   

 





















-This year, the Artisan Fair found a new home at the Armenian Convention Center.  The Fair was held on March 6th, and many people attended. View Gallery.




 
 
 
 

 









On 7 March, we had our 2nd annual Celebration March!  NGOs from all over the world alongside our young members, interns, students and volunteers convened on 42nd St in New York City to commemorate this International Women's Day event! View photo gallery.


Yellow ribbons were worn to celebrate peace, equality and development.

       

More on the NGO CSW Forum:


On 8 March, a seminar on the elimination of violence against women was held at the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in New York. NGO CSW/NY Executive Committee member Dr. Padmini Murthy was on the panel. Please view her PowerPoint presentation. This event also had the participation of Dr. Chiou Shu-Ti, Director General of the Bureau of Health Promotion of Department of Health of Taiwan, as well as the presentation from H.E. Ambassador Carlos Garcia, Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the UN, and Vice Chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.   

Official announcement:

On 9 March, the very first Regional NGO CSW committees' meeting was facilitated by Soon-Young Yoon, NGO CSW/NY  Chair. She presented a PowerPoint during the "Celebration Luncheon and Brainstorming" and also offered logos as gifts for the regional committees to use designed by the NGO CSW/NY intern, Daniel Jurado.  


These Regional NGO CSW Committees were partly funded by a grant from UN Women. Our thanks to UN Women for their continued support and partnership!


 

Find NGO CSW Forum events on YouTube! 
Conversation Circles: The NGO CSW Forum organized thematic conversation circles that were free and open to the public. These circles incited conversations among groups with the same interests. The purpose was to create collaborations and work collectively to implement the UN frameworks and agreements in order to achieve gender equality. View below a few conversation circle repots:
 
NGO Caucuses: Focusing on advocacy, the official CSW outcome document, their own regional outcome documents and follow-ups on future plans for action.
For NGO documents visit this site. 
 
  • ​UN WEB TV
Listen to the General discussion of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (7 March 2013) here. 
 

Or read Soon-Young Yoon's Oral statement here. 

Michelle Bachelet's letter to the NGO CSW 

 
The following letter was received by NGO CSW/NY Chair Soon Young Yoon from the former Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Michelle Bachelet. While it was addressed to Soon Young, it was clearly meant for the entire membership of our NGO CSW/NY committee and so we wanted to share it with all of you. It represents a lovely thank you and farewell. We know you will appreciate her comments about our work  and the extraordinary partnership we had with UN Women during CSW 57. Enjoy!

To read the letter press here
 

February 2013

NGO CSW/NY Members' Meeting

 
     








Date: Monday, 25 February 2013
Location: UN Church Center, 8th Floor Boss Room
Business Meeting: 12:30 to 1:00 PM
Program: 1:15PM - 2:30PM

-Briefing and updates - Mary Ann Tarantula and Victoria Edmonds - Co-Chairs NGO CSW Forum planning committee 
 
-The N. America Outcome document - Susan O'Malley, member independent editing committee, UN representative, BPW
 
-The regional NGO CSW committees  - Soon-Young Yoon, UN representative of the International Alliance of Women and Chair, NGO CSW/NY
To view a few photos from this meeting, please click here.

CSW 57 Suggested Reading List
 
April 2013 
 
Member's Meeting 4/18/2013

Gender Inequality and the Post-2015 Agenda was the topic of our April monthly meeting. The speakers giving the program were:

Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations

Ming Chong, Representative at Baha'i International Community

Tracy Raczek of Climate Change and Environment Focal Point at United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment 

 
Suggested links:

Global Consultation on Addressing Inequalities http://www.worldwewant2015.org/inequalities.

Heinrich Boell report: http://www.boell.org/web/136-Heintz_Missing-Women.html. 
 


 
Please note: No members' meeting was held in January. This meeting was replaced by the UN Women's Briefing.


The Avon Communications Awards

 

On March 7th, The Avon Communications Awards: Speaking Out About Violence Against Women, event was held at the Ambassadors River View Marquis Tent located behind the United Nations’ North Lawn Building.
 
At this Awards Luncheon, Actress and Avon Foundation Ambassador Salma Hayek Pinault honored five organizations whose strategic communications are most effectively helping change communities, policies, institutions and behaviors to end violence against women. Soon-Young Yoon was one of the speakers.  

To view photos from this event, go to our gallery.
 

 

The fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York this month. Meetings ran from 4 to 15 March 2013.
 
 

The Bureau for the 57th session comprised the following members:

•  H.E. Ms. Marjon V. Kamara (Liberia) of the African States Group, Chair
•  Ms. Ana Marie Hernando (Philippines) of the Asia-Pacific States Group, Vice-Chair
•  Ms. Irina Velichko (Belarus) of the Eastern European States Group, Vice-Chair
•  H.E. Mr. Carlos Garcia Gonzalez (El Salvador) of the Latin American and Caribbean States Group, Vice-Chair
•  Mr. Filippo Cinti (Italy), Western European and other States Group, Vice-Chair
 
This year’s priority theme: 
Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.

On 15 March, United Nations officials welcomed an agreement on the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.
 
-View Agreed Conclusions here!
-UN Women's sentiment on the Agreed Conclusions
-Michelle Bachelet Closing Statement
 

Ms. Michelle Bachelet informs of her departure as Executive Director of UN Women on 15 March 2013.

Preview on the priority theme of 2014:


Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.

If you want to view our Handbook,

click on the image below:

 

MEET 
ONE OF OUR ADVISORS:

Bani Dugal
 
Bani Dugal is the Principal Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations. She is a human rights expert, and has devoted her career towards advancing the rights of women and children, and promoting freedom of worship around the world. Ms. Dugal has worked at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and holds a Masters degree (LL.M) in Environmental Law from Pace University School of Law, New York and a law degree (LL.B) from the University of Delhi, India. Prior to relocating to the U.S. in 1988, she practiced law before the Supreme Court of India.

As part of the community of international NGOs at the United Nations, she currently serves on the Executive Committees of the NGO Committee on Human Rights and is the President of the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, as well as a past Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women. She has also served as Chair of the Global Forum of the NGO Committee on UNICEF, member of the Steering Committee of the NGO Committee on UNICEF’s Working Group on Girls, Convener of the NGO Committee on UNIFEM, and Convener of the Advocates for African Food Security.
~TAKE FIVE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN
 
Please, spread the word about CEDAW to your own networks!
 
WHAT DOES THE COMMITTEE DO?
The primary mandate of the Committee is to monitor the implementation of the provisions of CEDAW. It does so by examining reports submitted periodically by States parties 
(Art. 18).
Based on the consideration of these reports, it makes suggestions and recommendations referred to as Concluding Observations to each State party reviewed.
Information about the Committee’s sessions can be found at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/sessions.htm
Moreover, the Committee provides guidance to States parties on how to fulfill their obligations under the Convention through elaborating general commendations. It also addresses contemporary women’s rights issues through such recommendations.
The general recommendations are available at: 
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/comments.htm

The Optional Protocol to CEDAW mandates the Committee to perform additional monitoring functions:
  • The Committee may consider complaints or communications brought against State parties by individuals or groups who believe their rights under the Convention have been violated (Art. 2);
  • The Committee may conduct an inquiry if it has received reliable information containing well-founded indications of serious, grave or systematic violations of the conventions in a State party (Art. 8).
As of May 2012, 104 States were parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention.
 MONTHLY QUOTE
"It is essential to design, implement and monitor, with the full participation of women, effective, efficient and mutually reinforcing gender-sensitive policies and programmes, including development policies and programmes, at all levels that will foster the empowerment and advancement of women"










~Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action





                                                                    
                                                        		
                                                    

                                                        
                                                            

                                                            

	

		

			

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	More on CSW 57



	

		Articles on our NGO CSW Forum co-sponsored events:

	
	

		Lehigh University students's views on CSW 57:

	
	

		Blogs on the 2013 NGO CSW Forum:

	
	

		

		WGG - See Working Group on Girls website for more articles, blogs, Facebook addresses, pictures and descriptions of Girls at CSW57. You can also find their Advocacy Sheets identifying Talking Points on 10 key areas of Violence against Girls and listing Key Facts, Best Practices, and UN Resources by clicking on this link: http://girlsrights.org/new-csw-57-advocacy-sheets/

	

		PCI Impact, Mallika Dutt's TV interview on MSNBC about CSW 57.  It's a great conversation on the global movement against violence against women. To watch it, click on this link: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/46979738/ns/msnbc-up_with_chris_hayes/#50753258  






                                                                    
                                                        		
                                                    

                                                

                                            		
                                        

                                    

                                    
                                    
                                    

                                    	

                                        	
                                                
                                                

                                                    

                                                        
                                                            

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